Electro-physiology and electro-therapeutics : showing the best methods for the medical uses of electricity / By Alfred C. Garratt.
270/740

trodes are applied on either side of the gall bladder of a muti- lated living animal, it is seen to contract slowly but extremely, so much so that the contraction actually divides the gall bladder into two sacs or compartments, that are complete, 'while the great portion of the bile is quickly expelled into the duodenum. But whether the pancreas and spleen contract in the human organism, under this influence, is not so clearly determined ; for while the earlier observers who employed constant voltaic cur- rents, as Kolliker, Gerlach, and Dittrich, obtained negative evi- dence, Harless, Claude Bernard, and Wagner testify that they have seen contractions in the fibre-cells of these organs. The ureters, the urinary bladder, the uterus, and tunica vagi- nalis, the vas deferens, and the epididymis, contract, some pow- erfully and others less so, but all more or less decidedly, under the electric current; and these contractions continue for a little time after the electrodes are removed. Dr. Weber early noticed at least partial contractions of the uterus in the living bitch, and other animals. But very recently we learn that Dr. Mackenzie, of England, read a paper before the Royal Medical and Chirur- gical Society, showing his experience in the use of galvanism as to its action upon the contractile structure of the uterus, and its remedial powers in obstetric practice.* He first instituted some experiments upon the gravid uterus in the lower animals, the organ being exposed so that the exact influence of the electric current was seen. Thus it was shown that the electricity pro- duced a peculiar and very remarkable influence upon the fibres of the uterus, and this was most notable when the electro-mag- netic current was directed in a longitudinal direction — i. e., through the uterus from the upper portion of the spinal cord, the current running downwards, in a continuous manner, to the lower portions of the abdomen, or, better still, to the cervix uteri, or to the vulva. He found the local or direct application of both the electrodes to the uterus less effectual, even in that direction, and less still if applied transversely or obliquely; for in these two latter conditions, the contractions were local and partial, * Braithewaite's Retrospect, Part XXXVII., p. 271.